


Noppera-Bou

by AndromedaSkies



Category: Mother 2: Gyiyg no Gyakushuu | EarthBound, Mother 3
Genre: A supernatural AU in which Lucas doesnt have a face, I love the noppera-bou lmao, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-23
Updated: 2019-09-23
Packaged: 2020-10-26 22:33:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 12,944
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20749847
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AndromedaSkies/pseuds/AndromedaSkies
Summary: What would you do if your lover had no face?





	1. First Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucas' first day at school!

Ness was excited.

It was his first day back from summer break, most didn't want to even imagine their first day back, but Ness was excited, because it was the first day he was able to go to school and say he had a boyfriend, and coincidently enough it was also the first day he got to introduce his fellow peers to his previously mystery boyfriend.

He stood by the enterance of Onett State High and tapped his foot in anticipation, he knew everyone would be blown away by his partner, he was the kindest, softest, most caring person in the world, he couldn't wait to introduce his newfound love to his friends and family. After a few minutes of waiting, Ness could see the boy walking up the street towards the school, with his eyes lighting up in joy, he waved and beckoned towards the other.

The boy had soft blond locks that seemed to be slicked up into some form of a cowlick, he had rather pale skin and small, chocolate freckles dotted all over his face and seemingly the rest of his body. As Ness had expected, He walked with his head down due to the amount of attention he was recieving, Ness rolled his eyes, he knew his boyfriend would attract the most attention, whether it was good or not was debatable, but he knew it would happen.

When the boy reached the school gate, he held his bag tightly in one hand and silently waved at Ness, who beamed "hey Luke! How are you?"

Luke, or Lucas nodded and threw a thumbs up in response, which allowed Ness to ease up a little. See, Lucas was unable to speak due to one very obvious difference between him and most other teenaged boys.

Lucas didn't have a face.

Lucas was a Noppera-Bou, a faceless spirit who resembled that of a human, but without the obvious facial features, because of this he mostly had to communicate via gestures, sign-language and writing. Ness found it rather curious, Lucas could see but had no eyes, he could smell but had no nose, however, he had no mouth but he also couldn't speak, it was strange.

Ness didn't have time to ponder though because Lucas quickly approached him and gingerly held his arm, both out of love and out of the anxiety of having half of the school staring at him. Ness chuckled, ruffling the blonde's hair and smiling "don't worry, I'll make sure none of them do or say anything bad to you, you're safe" Lucas nodded at this, but still stayed as close as possible to Ness as they walked through the gate. 

The students had about a half hour until school officially started so they'd usually hang out around the field, Ness looked at Lucas and grinned "I wann introduce you to my buddies, if you're okay with it that is"

Lucas nodded and put a thumbs up, which made Ness grin giddily as he slightly sped up his walk.

It wasn't long until the two approached a trio that consisted of a blond boy with glasses, a blonde girl fooling around with her phone and an asian boy simply sitting back and waiting for something to happen "hey, sup dudes! Look who I brought with me..."

The blonde girl, Paula, looked up as a welcoming smile graced her face "is this the infamous Lucas we've heard so much about? Well, you weren't joking when you said he had no face" Paula chuckled, seemingly unfazed by the faceless boy before her.

Jeff, the blond next to her waved "nice to finally meet the guy willing to put up with Ness" he smirked as he received a scoff from Ness and a snort from the final friend, Poo.

Despite having no face to go off of, Lucas was very obviously confused by the lack of suprise or uproar on his appearance, not that he wanted one, but it was very strange indeed, Paula noticed this and smiled "believe me, I've seen weirder kid, you're safe with us" she then quickly continued "and before you start wondering how I knew what you were thinking, I'm a psychic!"

Lucas beamed at her response and stared at her, which got a laugh out of her "I'm joking, but you look so excited, how cute! Anyway I knew 'cause you seem to be the type that tilts their head when they're confused or curious or whatever" Lucas' excitement did kind of die down when Paula admitted to the joke, but he was still impressed by her ability to read people so effortlessly.

The group spent the next half hour conversing, Lucas nodding and occasionally writing down contributions to the conversations, as much as he liked to write and communicate, he was most certainly more of a listener.

When the bell had finally rang, the four set off to their classes, Lucas was so engrossed in his boyfriend and new friends that he seemed to forget the eyes that were constantly on him, as he was too busy doing what he did best, listening.

When Ness brought Lucas to his class, the faceless boy turned to face him with his head down "well, it's sad we don't have the same first class together, but I might see you next period, if you ever need help and I'm not around, just ask around!" he beamed, Lucas nodded in response. Ness smiled, he turned around to go to his class when Lucas grabbed his arm.

"Luke, I need to-" before he could think, Ness felt soft skin make contact with his cheek before quickly pulling away, he put a finger onto the spot slowly before turning around.

"Did you just... attempt to kiss me?" He smirked, despite being overjoyed.

Lucas began heating up and turned a gentle red before nodding, Ness couldn't help but giggle and ruffle his hair before giving him a soft peck on the forehead "I'll see you after class, okay?"

Lucas nodded and quickly slid out his notepad, he scribbled some words on it before showing Ness.

"I hope you enjoy your next class, be sure to behave yourself and listen"

Ness, being the mature person he is, stuck his tongue out at this.


	2. Freak

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucas learns that despite his decent amount of popularity; there will always be those people who don't like his kind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AAAAAAH-

If Ness had to state the most difficult thing about dating Lucas, it was knowing what he was thinking at any given time. Since the boy had no face, going off of facial expression was impossible, and since he couldn't speak, unless he had his trusty notepad with him or the other person could understand sign language, communicating was pretty much impossible too. This caused Ness to be extremely vigilant when it came to Lucas, he always made sure that he could be there to translate ehat Lucas was signing, he always carried spare sheets of paper with him in case Lucas forgot his notebook, and he was always there to make sure people stopped what they were doing if he knew it was making the blond uncomfortable.

A lot of the time, people took advantage of the fact that Lucas couldn't talk back, bit Ness was always there to defend him.

However, this time Ness wasn't there, and Lucas had indeed forgotten his notebook in his english class. At this point everyone in the school had gotten used to the fact that Lucas went there and had no face, he had actually gained a substantial amount of popularity, and it wasn't a shock to see and hear people saying hello to him, of course receiving a nod and a wave in response.

The blond made his way to where his english class was located in an attempt to relocate his notebook, he did need after all if he was going to get through the day, but before he could enter the classroom he was pulled back by his arm into the corridor of the english and literature department. When the initial shock of being randomly dragged somewhere subsided, he saw that he was looking into the eyes of a rather petite blonde girl with vibrant blue eyes, she was giving him a look of curiosity and fascination.

"So... you're Lucas, right?"

Lucas nodded, in which the girl shrugged and continued "I'm Nana, they sure weren't kidding when they said you had no face..."

Lucas relaxed when he realized that she was just a curious student and attempted to leave, but this caused her to step in front of him "oh no no no, you're not going anywhere"

Lucas tilted his head at her and attempted to slide passed her, but to no avail "you know, you seem like you'd be cute if you weren't a literal freak, ha!"

Lucas wasn't sure what the typical response would be to that, sure he was slightly offended, but what was he supposed to do in this situation.

"I don't like you" Nana suddenly blurted "you look too funny, your skin is too pale, your hair's too soft and thin, and you don't have a face, that isn't normal, and I don't like things that aren't normal"

Lucas was used to being berated about his abnormality so he simply shrugged it off and attempted to leave, but once again she wouldn't let him. She stood in his way and soon brought out what seemed to be a sharpy from her skirt pocket "what if I gave you a face? What if I made you normal? Maybe then you wouldn't be such a freaky freak, I could give you a nice smile, some pretty eyes and maybe even a nose" she smirked, removing the lid.

Lucas began panicking, he knew that the ink from a sharpy was incredibly hard to scrub off, and sadly this wasn't the first time someone had tried to draw on his face, but at least it was just a joke the last time.

At least he was okay with it.

Lucas just wanted to go and get his notebook, but he didn't want to push her or anything out of fear that she might try to get into trouble, but at the same time he didn't want to get drawn on, so he shook his head rapidly and stepped back.

"Why not?" She frowned "don't you want a face? Why wouldn't you want a face? I'm trying to help you, dude" she shrugged "I mean, what if when I draw one for you, it suddenly spawns? You never know if you don't try!"

Lucas continued to shake his head, stepping even further back until he hit th wall "come on dude just bring your face"

Lucas continued to struggle.

"Dude- stop being such a baby and just let me give you a face!"

Lucas continued.

"For the love of- just let me draw on your goddamn fa-"

"Luke?"

Ness had went up to the English and Literature department after finding out from a fellow student that Lucas had left his notebook in class, he knew just how forgetful and absentminded Lucas could be so he went back to get it for him, in the event that Lucas forgot to go and get it.

So imagine his suprise when he saw his boyfriend pretty much pinned yo a wall whilst a girl pointed a black sharpy at his bare face.

Nana looked back "what do you want?" She asked, with a raised brow.

"Well, I kinda want you to stop doing whatever the hell you're doing to him, you're clearly distressing him so stop" Ness spoke with furrowed brows.

"I was trying to-"

"I don't care what you were trying to do, he clearly doesn't like it so stop, before I report you to principle Mary"

Nana scowled before dropping her sharpie and storming off "okay, defend the freak of nature, see if I care!"

Lucas, shaking, approached Ness and pulled him into a hug, who gladly accepted the hug, "hey, it's okay, let's just get your notebook and bounce"

Despite having no face the indicate his mood, it was obvious by his mannerisms and behavior for the rest of the day that the encounter with Nana really put Lucas into a sour mood. He constantly had his head down and didn't even try to interact with anyone else for the rest of the day, it wasn't until after school when Ness met up with Lucas was this addressed.

"Are you okay Luke?" He asked, placing an arm around his partner.

While weirdly hesitant, Lucas accepted the gesture, gently putting his backpack on and holding his notebook tightly. Ness frowned "Luke... what's wrong? You know you can tell me anything, right?"

Lucas didn't move, the only form of moving was him walking alongside Ness, after a period of radio silence he soon brought out his notebook and wrote a small message in it:

"Do you think I'm a freak?"

Ness was taken aback by this and instantly began shaking his head "of course not, is this about what Nana said? I swear that when I see her I'll-" Ness was then cut off by the sound of scribbling in Lucas' notebook:

"But I'm a supernatural, and I don't have a face... why would you want to be with someone so strange? I can't even speak..."

Ness felt his frown strengthen as he pulled Lucas closer to him, softly stroking his head "Lucas, I like you 'cause you're you, not 'cause you're the most normal or attractive, but because I like who you are as a person, who cares if you're a supernatural? I think that adds to just cool you really are" Ness put a hand on his chin and made Lucas face him "don't you dare ever act like you don't deserve love, you do, and I'm gonna be the one that gives it to you"

Lucas stared at Ness, and for a moment the noirette couldn't tell what the blond was thinking, but it wasn't long until the overjoyed boy dropped his notebook and quickly wrapping his arms around the other's shoulder, and Ness soon felt that oh so familiar feeling of soft skin making contact with his lips.

He found it adorable when Lucas tried to kiss him, it was hilariously cute.

Ness chuckled and returned it as best as he could before Lucas quickly pulled away to pick up his notebook, as he did so, Ness smirked "another 'kiss' huh?" He chuckled.

Lucas turned a bright red before hitting him over the head with the notebook and quickly writing.

"You shut up before I turn you faceless too >:("

And at this, Ness simply snorted as the two held hands and made their way to the local park to spend their afternoon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise I only used Nana cuz she was the only one I could think of in the moment-


	3. Meeting the Fam: Lucas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ness gets to meet Lucas' amazing family!
> 
> They're not THAT embarrassing, I swear!

Ness was shitting bricks.

He was about to meet his boyfriend's family for the first time. From what Lucas had told him, he had a twin brother and a mom and dad, but other than that Lucas didn't go into detail as to how they were as people, always saying that Ness could see for himself. Ness remembered asking him of his family was faceless too, and was met with a thumbs up, the was followed up by a thumbs down, only to go back into a thumbs down.

Ness, rightfully so, concluded this to be Lucas' way of saying "yes and no".

Which was worrying.

Ness stood in front of Lucas' front door, the blond standing beside him and holding his hand, upon seeing Ness' obvious anxiety, Lucas used his free hand to gently rub the side of Ness' arm, as if to say "relax, it'll be okay".

After a heavy exhale, Ness knocked on the door. Almost immediately, Ness could hear foot steps and a loud voice yell "MOM! I THINK THEY'RE HERE NOW!" which Ness assumed was his brother. Soon after, the soft pattering of speeding foot steps was once again heard before the door opened, revealing a brunette with long flowing hair donning a red dress with white hemming.

And, not really all too surprisingly, the pale woman didn't have a face.

When she saw the two, the woman placed a hand on her cheek and began nodding quickly, before opening the door wide and beckining the two to enter. Ness walked in first, waving politely "hello, you must be Luke's mom, I'm Ness" he said with a smile.

The woman continued to nod before taking out a note that seemed to have been written in advanced:

"A pleasure to meet you! You may call me Hinawa, I am Lucas' mother!"

Ness couldn't help but stifle a chuckle, Lucas' mom seemed to be rather excited to meet him, which was a bit surprising, though he wasn't complaining.

Hinawa then pointed at the couch, nodding. It quickly clicked to Ness that she was telling them to take a seat, which the two did. Once seated, Hinawa quickly slid into the kitchen, giving Lucas the chance to grab a notepad from the coffee table and write a message:

"See? Now, was that so bad?"

"Your mom seems nice, oddly hyper though"

Ness watched as Lucas' chest rose suddenly along with his shoulders, Ness understood this, it was kind of like Lucas' way of laughing, only without the audible laugh, Lucas then wrote a response:

"Yeah, she gets pretty enthusiastic about the things she does, knowing her she cooked a big enougheal tonight to last us a week"

"Hm, reminds me of a certain someone..."

Lucas playfully swatted Ness' arm, it wasn't long until two people walked into the room. The first was a boy who seemed to share a somewhat similar appearance to Lucas, or at least, what Ness assumed Lucas would lool like if he had a face. The boy was a ginger with the same slicked up style to Lucas, albeit less neat. Whilst Lucas has a few freckles dotted here and there, this boy had a whole face full of dark brown marks, even so far as having some on his top and bottom lip. His eyes were a hazy green and he had a pretty dominant sun tan. Currently, the ginger wore a green and yellow stripped shirt with a black hoodie wrapped around his waist and grey cargo pants, finally complimented with black sneakers.

Beside him stood a tall man that didn't seize to intimidate Ness. The man had a fill face of facial hair and a western style hat on, the hat casting such a shadow that it slightly obscured the man's blue eyes and half of his face. Aside from being very tall, he also looked very strong, wearing nothing but a white vest and baggy trousers with some flip-flops, he wasn't even attempting to hide his many tattoos and prominant muscles.

Seeing a man this rough looking married to a woman as dainty as Hinawa was pretty odd to say the least, but then Ness remembered he was dating someone without a face so he inevitably chose not to question it.

The ginger approached Ness and smirked "so you're that kid that my brother won't stop gushing about, Mess? Wess? Less, was it?"

Lucas furiously scribbled some words down before shoving it in Claus' face:

"It's NESS, his name is NESS, N-E-S-S!"

Claus laughed before ruffling Lucas' hair, receiving a small hissy-fit from the blond "I'm just messing with you, I'm Claus by the way"

"Ness, it's a pleasure to meet you-"

"Bah, don't do that kissy uppy crap, we're the same age, it's cool" Claus smiled before purposely sitting in between them "but that doesn't mean PDA is allowed here just know that-" he was soon cut off by the sound of Lucas slapping him multiple times in the arm, which made the two boys on the couch laugh.

The man however, was not as smiley as the other two. He made sure to keep his eyes fixated on Ness, his look not getting any more or any less harsh than it already was. This made Ness freeze and look down, feeling himself shrink under the man's gaze. Did he do something wrong? Did he look too untrustworthy? It made sense if a kid like Lucas had a super protective dad, but he still couldn't help but feel dejected when he saw his unforgiving glare.

"Daaaaaad, stop scaring Wess, you're gonna make Lukie sad" he then faced Ness "that's our dad, his name's Flint but he's probably gonna make you call him Mr. Dubois, just to let ya know" Ness nodded before hearing the sound of pots and pans hitting each other, Claus and Lucas both perked at this, before Lucas quickly wrote a message:

"When mom bangs her pots and pans that means dinner's ready!"

Ness watched as the twins entered the dining room, Ness was about to follow when he felt a hand touch is shoulder "after dinner, I'd like to talk to you in the living room" Flint said, before walking into the dining room.

Needless to say, Ness' heart began racing.

Ness walked into the dining room, his nose was immedietely assulted with the scent of delicious cuisine, more specifically...

"Medium rare steak? But how did you-"

"Luke told mom it was your favorite so she prepared it for tonight" Claus responded, already messily gauging on his steak, which made Lucas step on his foot. Lucas then patted the seat next to him and tilted his head towards Ness, so of course Ness sat right beside him.

The dinner went off without a hitch, casual conversation was had (well as much as there could be with two mutes and one silent man), food was eaten and memories were made. Once dinner was over Lucas had offered to help his mother do the dishes, and Claus went upstairs to play video games, he had initially invited Ness but Ness declined due to having to meet with Flint.

Ness walked into the living room to see the man already sitting on the couch, Ness sat beside him (at a slight distance of course) and the two were silent for a bit before Ness spoke "um, it's a pleasure to meet you Fl- Mr. Dubois, I'm Ness and-"

"I know who you are" Flint quickly snapped.

Ness instantly shut up.

Flint saw his affect on the teen and sighed "look kid, I'm not trynna scare ya or anythin', but just know I'mma keep my eyes close on ya-"

"Yes sir, I promise you that I promise you that I-"

"Let me finish"

"Yes sir"

Flint shook his head before continuing "Lucas has... never had the most normal of childhoods, this should be obvious, but him and friendship don't go very well together, same with his mother, despite the fact that they seem like the type to wanna make a bunch of friends, but never could because of their... abnormality, so forgive me if I act a bit mean to ya but..." Flint looked up at him "I don't wanna see my son coming home from school cryin' 'cause you chose to hurt him"

"Wait... Lucas can cry? How"

Flint nodded "believe me kid... when the Noppera-Bou cry... it's never a pretty sight, it's... horrifyng to say the least"

Ness had never seen Lucas cry, and now knowing that he could scared him, what did it look like when the Noppera-Bou cried? "anyway, I've seen my son hurt too many times to let some old highschool boyfriend of his hurt him again, you seem like a nice kid, but if I ever find out you hurt him just know the crying spirits are gonna be the last of your issues"

"Y-Yes sir..."

"But, as long as you keep doin' what you're doing, which is making my son happy, you're alright in my book"

"Of course Mr. Dubois, I'll do my best"

Flint then waved a hand "please, just call me Flint"

Ness was overall happy with his introduction to Lucas' family, they seemed pretty cool, as for his family though...

Ness sighed, he dreaded the day Lucas bad to meet his family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes Hinawa and Claus are alive fight me-


	4. Meeting the Fam: Ness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucas gets to meet Ness'... wonderful family.

Lucas was terrified, he was about to meet his boyfriend's family for the first time.

His boyfriend's human, normal, non-abnormal family.

See, Onett was split into two categories, the abnormal and the normal. The abnormal were people like Lucas, those of supernatural descent or ability. For example, Lucas was a Noppera-Bou, an abnormal of supernatural descent. The Noppera-Bou were once a race of faceless ghosts who simply seemed to haunt the living, but as time went on they became more developed and stopped being ghosts with no face and soon became people with no face. The Noppera-Bou were definately not the only abnormal race, but they did exist.

And now he, a boy without the ability to speak or show emotion, who also happened to have no face, was forced to introduce himself to his boyfriend's parents and make a good impression.

It had been a while since Lucas had last felt this terrified.

He stood in front of Ness' house, slightly shaking from anticipation, unlike Ness, Lucas didn't have his boyfriend standing beside him to knock on the door and instead stood there on his own. Ness promised that he would meet him at the front door when he arrived and as Lucas had learned, Ness never broke a promise. With his notebook in one hand and his other hand free, he gently knocked on the door.

Despite the quietness of his knock, Lucas was heard by someone and they came rushing to the door, he heard some dragging noises and rumaging before the door soon opened. However, instead of being greeted by Ness, Lucas was greeted by a little girl on a footstool who looked no older than eight, she had soft golden locks and wore a frilly red dress with a bow in her hair, the girl looked up at Lucas with her curious green eyes, staring.

Soon, her eyes seemed to look a lot glassier, this scared Lucas, she was tearing up.

Seconds later, the girl hopped of the stool and ran through the house, screaming and crying "MOMMY! DADDY! THERE'S A CREEPY MAN AT THE DOOR!"

Ness was upstairs when he heard his sister scream and went downstairs to investigate, he approached the door slowly before seeing a clearly distraught Lucas at the entrance, shaking with his arm out. Ness quickly ran up to him "oh Luke, you came early?" Lucas nodded as Ness stepped out to talk to him "so... I'm assuming it was you that Tracy saw? Sorry about that... you see I, um..."

Ness looked down at Lucas, who had calmed down a little, with guilt before speaking again "I... never actually got around to telling my parents that you were um... a Noppera-Bou..." almost instantly, Lucas started involuntarily shaking again, which made Ness rub his head in an attempt to calm him down, "look it's just... my parents, never really liked talking about abnormals and stuff... so I just assumed they'd kinda freak out... again, more specifically my dad"

This obviously did not calm Lucas down at all, as all it did was heighten his anxiety even more, Ness could see Lucas' chest rising and dropping through his shirt and so continued with his soothing motions "it's okay, I won't let them hurt you, okay?"

Lucas, after a few minutes, began slowing his breathing and loosening his grip on Ness, he then nodded, pointing at the door as a way to signal that he was ready to go inside. Ness held his boyfriend's hand as they walked in.

Before they could even fully step in the house, a loud yell assulted their ears:

"THAT'S HIM, LOOK MOMMY, HE HAS NO FACE!"

The duo were instantly greeted with the sight of a tanned mab wearing a sweater and some jogging bottoms, he had black hair and dark blue eyes and a very weirded out expression. Beside him stood a woman with rather gingery blonde hair and blue eyes, she wore what looked to be a blue dress with a white apron on it, she also looked rather shocked.

This made Lucas freeze.

"Ness..." the woman began "who is... that...?"

Ness inhaled before smiling "mom, dad, Tracy... this is Lucas, the boy I keep telling you about, um, he's my boyfriend, and he's also a Noppera-Bou, in case you couldn't tell"

The house was silent for a second, Ness and Lucas both fearing for the worst, that was until Ness' father stood up and sighed "well that was... unexpected..."

His mother then relaxed a bit, but never leaving Lucas gaze "a Noppera-Bou huh... I see... I'll be, uh... in the kitchen if you need me..." she managed to say before quickly leaving the room, Tracy following quickly behind. Ness and Lucas were soon left in the hallway with no one but his dad, who simply stared at Lucas before turning around and walking off.

"Well... at least rhey don't hate you-"

Lucas tugged at Ness' arm and shows a hastily written message:

"Ness, they're clearly uncomfortable with me, it's best that I leave."

"No!" Ness snapped "they shouldn't be uncomfortable with your existance, you haven't done anything wrong-"

"Ness, stop. They don't want me here, and I don't want to stay in a building where I'm unwanted, I'll see you tomorrow, okay :3?" Despite the cute character Lucas scribbled, it was clear that this message was riddled with melancholy, Ness sighed, he didn't want Lucas to stay in a house where he wasn't wanted, all it would do was make his boyfriend upset, so he walked Lucas to the door. The blond proceeded to the give what Ness lovingly labelled as "a faceless kiss" onto the other's cheek before waving and making his way off of the porch and on his way home.

As he walked home, Ness' sadness melted into anger, walking into the house and making his way into the kitchin before yelling "what the HELL was that!?"

His mother, Nancy, turned around with a raised brow "what do you mean honey?"

"You scared him off!"

"You mean the faceless kid?" Nancy scoffed "lord, I hope so..."

Ness felt his fists clench and stomped his foot out of anger "what is your problem!? You've begging to meet Lucas for ages and noelw that you meet him you scare him off with your hostile attitudes! So what, does his 'sweetheart' personality not matter to you anymore!?"

"Now Ness" Nancy began "you and I both that none of us were expecting that when you described him"

"Expecting what?"

"A creature, an abnormal, they're called abnormal for a reason Ness, they aren't normal" she then turned to face the stew she was making once more "if I had known he was a Noppera-Bou from the beginning I could have nipped your 'relationship' in the bud, but I'm assuming it's too late to convince my rebellious son to leave him-"

"He hasn't done anything! He was as nice as he possibly could and you guys scared him off!"

"Ness, he doesn't have a face, what exactly is he contributing to your relationship?" Nancy shook her head "you're so blinded by the apparent shock value of dating a demon that you've forgotten to think with logic-"

"Don't call him a demon, never call him a demon" Ness hissed, which caused his mother to point her spoon at him.

"Elijah Franklin, mind you're tone-"

"Whatever! You don't deserve any respect after what you just did! Do you know how scared he was to meet you guys? He had been preparing all week try and make as best of an impression as he could and the first thing you guys do is shut him out! Like, whatever, I HATE YOU GUYS ANYWAY!" Ness yelled before storming out of the kitchen and leaving to go to his room.

Claus was sitting in his living room when he heard the door knock, he went to open it, assuming Lucas had returned from his boyfriend's house, when he opened the door, his suspicions were confirmed as there stood his faceless twin.

However, something was off...

Oh no....

Claus held his breath before pulling Lucas into the house as quickly as he could.

Lucas was crying, and Claus desperately had to stop it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hnnnnh dont worry they get redeemed


	5. My Faceless Co-Worker

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nancy is forced to get to know the local Noppera-Bou, it ends pretty decently

Nancy Franklin was a very respected staff member at Eagleland Middle School, the students liked her, the teachers liked her, and she was definately treated like an asset to the school, however there was one person in the school she didn't understand no matter how hard she tried.

Hinawa Dubois, the Noppera-Bou.

Hinawa wasn't the first abnormal that Nancy had encountered in her life, but she was certainly the strangest. Most abnormals that Nancy met were very secluded and lonely, often not being social and seeming rather depressed, Hinawa was the complete opposite. She was often described as "a silent ray of sunshine" by her peers and seemed to be extremely liked by the students, despite not being able to speak, she had managed to build close bonds with the people around and all around seemed to have a very happy and positive disposition about life.

And Nancy hated it.

The confusion of the matter irritated her, how could someone with no face be so happy all the time? How could someone who couldn't talk or express emotions be so positive all the time? How could someone so unlucky in terms of social status see the joys in life? She didn't get it, it confused her, and she hated being confused.

Hinawa worked as a teaching assistant, meaning she would go to different classes and help out whether it be providing assistance for the students or simply watching over the students as the teacher taught. That day, Hinawa was placed into Nancy's class, who was an english teacher. Nancy didn't like having to spend an hour and forty minutes in a room with Hinawa, her whole presence made her feel uncomfortable, her uncanny facelessness occasionally making her pause whilst teaching.

She hate how abnormal she was.

When the students had gotton onto the practical work, Hinawa took this as an opportunity to approach Nancy with a written sheet in hand, Nancy looked up at her, only to read the following sentence:

"I'm sorry if I make you feel uncomfortable, I can't control my facelessness"

Nancy shivered at this, but shook her head "no, you don't make me uncomfortable, I'm fine..."

A few seconds later, Hinawa followed up with a message:

"No need to lie, you can say how you truly feel, I promise I won't be offended"

Seeing how apologetic and genuine she was, Nancy began feeling rather guilty for her previous thoughts, but decided to sigh and be honest as Hinawa had asked her to be "fine, you do make me uncomfortable, your lack of a face yet human appearance makes me feel uncomfortable, your hyper and positive demeaner confuses me, and that fact that you're nothing like all the other abnormals I've met irks me" Nancy blabbed, feeling rather bad soon after.

Hinawa stood still before nodding and then writing another message down:

"if I remember correctly, our sons seem to be dating"

Nancy perked "wait, that Lucas th- kid is your son?"

Hinawa nodded, before writing another message:

"My son came home crying yesterday, did something bad happen?"

Nancy raised a brow to hear that the faceless boy from yesterday could cry, who knew the Noppera-Bou could cry? Soon, she began feeling a pit of guilt pool up inside of her "me... and my husband may have been rather hostile to him on reflection..."

"Do you know what happens when the Noppera-Bou cry?"

"N-No..."

Hinawa wrote another message, at first she hesitated to show it before choosing to anyway:

"We bleed."

Nancy's eyes proceeded to get wider when she saw the image, suddenly feeling a rush of alarm and panic when she realized that she probably sent the boy home bleeding "w-what?"

Hinawa held up her bangs as she showed the last message 

"I don't want to go into too much detail, since a lot of things happen when we cry, but the main thing is the bleeding. We bleed from the edge of our hairline and it simply drips down our face, I assume it's supposed to compensate for our lack of tears and eyes. However, when we cry, we cry a lot, so our bloody tears are less like tears and instead it looks like we're leaking blood, and since us crying results in actual bloodloss, let's just say there's nothing scarier than a crying Noppera-Bou child."

"You guys... bleed... I'm, so sorry!"

Hinawa slightly jumped at her forcefulness but tilted her head when she saw Nancy lower her head:

"It's okay, he didn't cry that much yesterday so all he needed was a nap..."

Nancy was horrified, everything Hinawa had just told her was without the explicit details, so if the bleeding was the main thing that happened when the Noppera-Bou cried...

She couldn't even begin to imagine what else happened when they cried.

"I'm so sorry... I'm sooo sorry... I'm sorry... I'm so..."

"You didn't know, all I ask of you is please try and understand my son... he's been through a lot in his short lifetime, and Ness seems to make him the happiest I've ever seen him. I know this may seem selfish, but all I ask of you is to let my son keep dating Ness, if not for my sake, for his"

Nancy went home with a heavy heart that day.

She remembered how upset Ness was, she didn't really get why he was being so aggressive, until she remembered Hinawa's specific words:

"He's been through a lot in his short lifetime, and Ness seems to make him the happiest I've ever seen him."

This made Nancy lower her head, what on earth had he gone through, had she contributed to his negative experience with life? Noppera-Bou or not, he was still a kid, and despite how vague Hinawa had been with her answeres she only felt herself becoming more and more...

Sorry.

By the time she had snapped out of her daze she was standing in front of the house, she opened the door and entered the hallway, hanging her coat on the hanger and taking off her shoes before putting them in her room and replacing them with a pair of slippers, Ness would have been home from school by now and judging by the uncharacteristic silence in the house, Nancy assumed he was in his room, avoiding everyone like he did that morning...

Nancy then remembered Hinawa, and how nice and forgiving she was, and so she gathered all the bravery she could and walked up the stairs before reaching Ness' room. She took a breath, before knocking "go away" was what she was treated to almost instantly, making Nancy wince, despite it being almost a whole day since the incident, Ness sounded just as upset.

"Ness... please, I just wanna talk-"

"Lucas didn't come to school today, and I know it's because of what you guys did, I don't wanna talk"

Nancy squinted her eyes at what he told her, but persevered through it regardless "but Ness, just hear me out, if only for a few minutes..."

It was silent for a bit, that was until Nancy heard creaking of the bed and footsteps, soon the door opened. Ness didn't look her in the eyes, only allowing her to enter and going back to laying in his bed. Nancy stepped in and stood awkwardly, not speaking for a bit, which caused Ness to prompt her "so... what did you need?" He quietly asked, which made her perk.

"Ah yes! I... wanted to apologize for yesterday..." she said.

"Seriously? What caused this sudden change of heart?" He asked, raising a brow due to how admittedly skepticle the whole thing made him.

"I... met a co-worker today, we ended up talking and... the best way to put it is she kinda made me realize how wrong I was..." she then sighed "I can't promise you're dad instantly coming around, nor can I promise that I'll be fully comfortable with his presence, but I can promise not to meddle in your relationship or personal lives"

Ness looked up at her for a few seconds before smiling "you know, I never thought you'd come around"

Nancy then allowed her body to relax before returning his smile "you can thank my facelese co-worker for that"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay shes kinda nice now-


	6. Fear, or the Nature of Humanity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A supernatural is killed, nobody takes it well.

"An abnormal was killed last night"

"I heard the abnormal was a teenager"

"They were going home after visiting a friend"

"I heard that it was a teenage girl"

"Her name was Rina"

"Apparently her killer thought she was gonna attack them because of something she did, so they shot her"

"What was she again?"

"I heard she was a Naga, so she was part snake"

"My sister went to her school! She had a snake's body from the waist down, she was also covered in scales and had a snakey tongue and eyes!"

"What a pity... she did nothing wrong..."

Ness had been hearing about it all morning, a young girl around his age, Rina James, had been shot by a man who assumed she was gonna attack because she looked over at him and yawned, according to the man, once he saw how wide she opened her mouth, he took it was a threat and shot her. The man didn't even sound sorry, he just did it for the sake of feeling stronger than her.

Hearing about her death made him think of Lucas, despite dating him, Lucas had a habit of keeping his past and his history with being an abnormal a secret, he never opened up about it, and judging by how secretive and vague his family were about it, it must have been bad. Although Lucas was rather liked in school due to how fundementally harmless he is, outside of school was were Ness had truly seen how hostile people were towards the abnormals.

Ness remembered all of those times he took Lucas out to eat, and how they'd have to wait ages for service because the servers were too afraid of him to approach their table, or how many times crude older people would heckle him in public and try to pick a fight, or how many times he was almost attacked by people who believed abnormals were a curse.

Onett didn't like abnormals, despite being the ones who caused them to cause them to come there.

But that's a story for another day.

Lucas had days where he would come to school wih a bruise or two because some older kids would pick a fight with him, and sometimes he would come to class shaking because of a confrontation he faced. Even though he was rather popular,he still had to deal with receiving threatening notes and looks from people from time to time.

For some reason, people thought he wanted to fight, either that or they wanted to prove them selves by fighting him, by beating an abnormal.

Despite popular belief, Lucas didn't have special powers, nor abilities, he was simply a normal boy, he just so happened to not have a face.

This scared people, Ness had seen it first hand with his mother. Dating Lucas had taught Ness that the one thing humans hate the most is something that looks human, but isn't human. Lucas was a normal boy with normal motions, he aged like a normal boy, he liked the things that most normal boys did, but his lack of a boy's face was what made people so on edge.

People didn't like how human he was.

This made his mind drift to Nana, and how she was so adement on giving Lucas a face. She thought she was helping him, she made it clear how she didn't like how strange he was and how his lack of a face was the creepiest thing about him.

This made Ness think if Rina.

Rina had gone to the girl's school just across the street, Paula used to go there but was kicked out for reasons unknown and began going to Onett State, so he vaguely knew Rina, or at least what she looked like. Other than the scales, eyes and tongue, Rina looked like a normal person from the waist up, she looked like a normal girl.

It was scary that she looked like a girl.

Ness concluded that this had to ne the main reason people hated abnormals so much, they hated how heavy their concious would feel if they hurt an abnormal, they hated how a majority of abnormals looked and behaved like normal everyday people.

Humans refused to believe that anyone but them could behave like them.

It was funny, they were scared of abnormals despite their lack of powers, most abnormals were just that, abnormal. Most didn't have abilities, they judt had quirks that made them look and act a little different, Rina didn't have powers, Lucas doesn't have powers, yet their appearance was what made them so feared.

But at the same time, isn't this what they wanted? People had been so obsessed with the existance of abnormals that the very fear of what they could have been was what drove them to continue their research, but the abnormals they discovered were overall harmless.

"They aren't scared of abnormals..." Ness mumbled, "they're scared of what they could be"

"Hm?"

Ness turned his head to the side, realizing that he hadn't been doing his english work, all of this pondering was making him space out, before continuing, he looked at the person who had alerted him. She was a redhead whos hair was tied into two braids, her face was covered in small freckles, primarily on her cheeks, and she had light hazel eyes, he also noticed her arms, the girl didn't have arms, she had wings in their place.

Her name was Pippi Manian, and she was a Harpy, an abnormal.

Pippi was very odd and liked to keep her distance from people, claiming she already had a group of friends outside of school so didn't need to bother making friends in school. Right now, she was giving Ness a smile, her naturally squinted eyes looking even smaller as she did so "I couldn't help but overhear your little epiphany, I assume your heard about the murder of Rina James?" 

"Yeah, it just got me thinkin' is all..." 

Pippi picked up her pencil with her mouth and started writing, her hand- err, mouthwriting was suprisingly good even though she was using her mouth, she continued her paragragh before pausing and looking over at Ness "that's what's funny 'bout you humans, always pondering but never thinking"

"Huh?" Ness asked, sitting up with a stretch.

"I kinda agree with what you said, it's sorta like fear of the unknown, what's scarier, a jumpscare of the anticipation of a jumpscare?"

"The anticipation I guess, knowing something is gonna pop out at any time but never knowing when is pretty damn scary" Ness said as he laid his head in his hand.

Pippi nodded "exactly, in the same way humans fear the same thing, so they use fear as a way to justify their power, tell me, Ness is it? What is power without fear?"

Ness shrugged "where are you going with this?"

"The man who killed Rina claims that he feared his life, that a little girl going home after staying over at a friend's house scared him so much he had to shoot, that is power" she smirked "power stems from fear, it stems from the need to kill abnormals before they've even done anything, it's not only the fear of one's life, but also the fear of one's pride and honor, say your boyfriend for example" Pippi smirked when Ness perked up "he's probably one of the softest people out there, yet older boys pick fights with him all the time, do you really think it's only because they're scared of him?"

"No" Ness sighed "they thrive off of knowing they can overpower an abnormal, someone they've already deemed as dangerous based off of nothing"

"Exactly, it's also why Rina's killer got off"

Ness coughed "what!?"

"You heard me, there's gonna be a protest about it and everything" Pippi shook her head "a man getting away with killing a young girl for pretty much no reason, that is power, that is true fear. The need to overpower the abnormals they brought into this world, that is the nature of humans, theu fear the unknown, yet that's what they want the most, the unknown" Pippi then smirked "abnormals can't weaponize their fear like humans can, for in their eyes, our fear is unjust, stupid, unecessary, so I'll ask you again Ness, what is power without fear?"

Ness stayed quiet for a bit, before speaking "power without fear isn't power, it's ignorance, it's the unwillingness to see the dangers of life, whilst also fearing what cannot hurt you. Power without fear is weakness, but power is also what brings out the fear and weakness in people"

Right after Ness had finished, the bell rang. The two closed their textbooks and prepared for their next class, Pippi then looked at Ness and grinned "nice talkin' to ya, you're not so bad, for a human"

Ness shook his head with a smile as she left the room, he then made his way to his shared science class with Lucas.

"I wonder what Lucas' take on this is..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the first of a 3 part thing (story arc?) Enjoy-


	7. Power, or the Nature of Abnormality

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucas visits Rina's memorial.

"Rina James, an abnormal, more specifically a Naga, 14 years old, has been pronounced dead less than four hours ago, her death was said to be caused by a gunshot wound to the abdomen, this had caused something to rupture througout the the bottom half of her body, what exactly ruptured is unsure, but what is known is that this caused severe internal bleeding, and despite the intensive medical help she received prior to ber death, unfortunately, it wasn't enough to save her. Her family have requested privacy during this time of grief, so please be respectful of their wishes."

"The man who killed Rina James has been identified as Rodney Phillips, a 21 year old former marine who currantly works as a gym teacher at Eagleland Academy, a private school. Rina's death has most definitely caused outrage in the abnormal community, even more so considering that less than a few hours ago, Rodney was released from prison off of a measly five hundred dollar bail, which many believe is too low for a man who killed a child. The case is still on going, tune in at 9:00pm for more info-"

Lucas sighed as he turned the tv off and left his house to go to school. Rina James, an abnormal girl, was killed. This wasn't the first time Lucas had heard a story like that, but it was the first time it had ever happened to someone around his age, everytime he heard the whole 'murdered abnormal' story it always happened to adult, so because of this he felt pretty safe, abnormal or not, nobody would hurt a child, right?

Then Rina was killed, and now, Lucas was scared.

All his life Lucas had been through two things, either being hurt by humans or being told he was 'a good abnormal'. Humans had always been scared of Lucas, which he found understandable due to the lack of his face, but a lot of the time instead of avoiding him they'd attack him, using his abnormality as a crutch for their violent behavior, but not when he was being a good abnormal. This made Lucas ponder, what was it about being a good abnormal that humans loved so much?

Lucas was naturally quiet for obvious reasons, he wasn't confrontational, he kept to himself and he behaved himself. If a human were to treat him badly, he'd brush it off, he remembered all the times he chose not to brush it off and how humans reacted negatively to him not accepting their rudeness "you're so impolite!" or "God, all you abnormals are the same".

He found it odd how abnormals like that Pippi girl from school, who always spoke up when they felt slighted where considered bad abnormals, yet ones like him where considered good, this made Lucas lower his head.

Whether an abnormal was good or bad was not determined by their character, but by their ability to not speak up when wronged.

This made him feel weak, although he couldn't physically speak, he could communicate in other ways, but he never spoke up. He never stated his mind and always let things happen as they happen, he then realized why.

He didn't want humans to hate him.

Lucas had an intense fear of humans hating him, it was what drove him to study in class, it was what made him want to be polite and well mannered at all times, it was why if a human gave him an order, he followed it.

He wanted to prove to the humans that he was a good abnormal, that he deserved to live.

Why was that though? Why were abnormals put in a position where they believed the only ones that deserved to live without fear of being killed were the ones who licked human boots? Why did abnormals need to be 'good' to feel safe? Why did abnormals need to conform to human standard to feel comfortable within their own skin? It wasn't right, it wasn't fair, but Lucas knew he wasn't the one to fight this system.

He wasn't brave enough.

During his walk to school, Lucas paused in front of the park and froze. Their at the entrance where flowers and stuffer animals, as this was the spot where Rina was shot. Lucas simply stared at the memorial, trying his best not to begin his shaking, which almost always led to crying. Despite having to go to school, he felt like it was only polite to at least try and pay her some respect, although feeling rather guilty for not bringing flowers.

"You here to mourn Rina too, kid?"

Lucas perked up beside him to see a woman, upon seeing his lack of a face, she seemed to relax, which made sense considering she too was an abnormal. She had long white hair and pale skin, she also had one large eye that was a rather hazy blue and she was currently only in a hoodie, some jeans and a pair of sneakers. She was an abnormal, a cyclops to be exact. 

Lucas worried, realizing that he forgot his notebook at home, and his backup was in his locker, in hopes that she knew sign language, he began signing a message:

"I want to pay respects, but I have no flowers"

Luckily, the stranger seemed to understand what he meant. With the rise of blind abnormals and or deaf such the Noppera-Bou or the Cloud Sirens, sign language had started to become a rather commonly used form of communication, and it was even taught as a seconday language in many schools. The woman waved a hand "look kid, I knew Rina... I used to be her math teacher, and if there's anything I knew about her it was that she was an extremely nice and appreciative person, you don't need flowers, if anything she'd be grateful that you even came"

Lucas nodded and looked back at the memorial, the woman placed a small stuffed teddybear beside her picture before standing still with a sigh "power... what a joke" she scoffed "humans hold all the power whilst us abnormals have to bottom feed and fend for ourselves, we can't even walk home without being shot or something, what a joke...!"

Lucas looked over at the cyclops, who had gone from melancholic to angry "fear is all it is, yet the wrong people are feeling afraid and the wrong people are being punished, but that's our strength, right? Our strength is our ability to withstand all the hardship and pain that we go through on the daily, all the anxiety, all the fear parents have of not seeing their kids come home, all the fear kids have of not making it home... is that really our power? Is that all our strength is? Because to me that sounds a lot like fear..." she then scoffed "but no... the humans are scared and the abnormals have the power apparently..."

As Lucas listened to her, he began shaking a little. All his life he had lived in a small bubble of fear, unsure over whether or not it was justified or if he was just being a coward, he remembered when he met Ness and how scared he was to walk around in public with him, and when Ness first confessed his feelings, Lucas ran away, in fear of what would happen if he returned those same emotions. Lucas was always on his best behavior because he was scared, Lucas always appeased the humans because he was scared, Lucas always put the happiness of humans before his own because he was scared.

Now that this fear had been officially justified, he wasn't sure if he could handle the amount of fear that came from it.

But hey, what was power without fear, right?

...

Right?

"Hey kid... you okay?"

Without realizing it, Lucas' forehead began leaking thin streams of crimson liquid, he gripped the side of his shirt and bent over to avoid getting it on his clothes. The woman saw this and acted immedietely, grabbing a hankercheif from her pocket and placing it there before pulling him into an embrace. Although he didn't know her, Lucas accepted the hug, she then put a hand to his back and began rubbing it gently.

"It's okay kid, no need to cry, try to stay calm, okay?" While appreciating her comfort, Lucas couldn't helo but sign:

"How did you know I was crying?"

The woman smiled "I had a girl in my class once who was a Noppera-Bou, she transferred recently, but I definitely know it looks like when you guys cry, now, could you tell me why you're so worked up"

Lucas began shakily signing, but as he continued he began crying even more, almost reaching balling status:

"I always... try so hard to get on the humans' good side because they scare me... I don't want to die... I don't want to end up like Rina! But I don't know how not to! I don't like being an abnormal... everything is hard and difficult and scary... and I'm afraid... I'm afraid of being killed... I'm scared..."

The woman watched as Lucas cried before pulling away from the hug and kneeling down to face him "look kid, I can only imagine what you've been through as a Noppera-Bou, and I can't begin to imagine just how afraid you must be, and as much as I want to tell you don't worry, you have every right to be scared, do you here me?" Lucas did the chest sniffle that Noppera-Bou do and nodded as she continued "all I can say is, don't let it consume you, I understand that you think becoming what the humans want you to be is the easiest way to survive, but don't let it take over your life, don't keep it inside, talk to someone. If you allow this level of self-loathing get to far you may very well end up becoming a danger to others and maybe even yourself, you seem like too much of a sweet kid to let that happen, do you promise me to try and focus on the positives of life?"

Lucas had began to calm down and used the hankercheif to wipe his forehead, while nodding to her question. He took his water bottle and used to to clean off the streaks of blood that now stained his face, he did feel a bit dizzy, but luckily due to the hankercheif he didn't lose a lot of blood, he held the bloody hankercheif with a melancholic disposition, which made the lady laugh "I'll wash it later along with this hoodie kid, it's okay, now if that uniform is telling me anything, you got to Onett State right? I suggest you get a move on, school is starting soon"

Lucas perked before giving her the hankercheif, he picked up his bookback and waved at the cyclops woman, before walking off "see ya kid" she smiled before turning around and walking the opposite direction.

As Lucas walked towards his school, he began thinking. The woman was right, he couldn't just let this state completely break his mental state, as afraid as he was, he didn't have to keep it inside all the time, he had a loving family and friends he could count on, and sure, there was nothing that could completely erase his constant fear and high alert, but at the same time shoud he really waste his time thinking of it 24/7? Was that truly power?

He then saw the school in the distance and relaxed, he also had Ness, the most important person in his life, who could definitely be there for him through this time.

...

If Lucas had a face, he'd certainly be smiling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey nice older lady comforts crying child oof


	8. Strength, or the Duality of Living

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hinawa and Nancy talk about some things.

"My son fears going out on his own, I apologize if he's been a bit clingy to Ness lately"

It was lunch at Eagleland Middle School, Nancy was sitting on one of the couches near a computer when she was approached by Hinawa. She read the sign and felt her mood slightly sadden. Nancy wasn't stupid, she knew this was linked to that little abnormal girl that was killed recently, she wasn't at all shocked to hear that Lucas was beginning to get anxious and needed Ness around, she wasn't all that close to him, but even Nancy knew that he was a naturally stand-offish boy, so knowing that it was beginning to get dangerous for abnormals to walk around alone must have been terrifying for him.

"It's perfectly fine Hina, don't sweat it"

Hinawa suddenly did a little jerk with her chest, her shoulders moving up a little, she had learned from Ness that this seemed to be the Noppera-Bou way of laughing, Hinawa then wrote a little message before showing it:

"Since when did I get a nickname?"

Nancy chuckled at this, her and Hinawa had admittedly built a suprisingly close relationship considering how much Nancy had avoided her in the past, it may have had something to do with their sons dating, but Nancy didn't care.

Hinawa was a pretty good friend, and that was enough.

Hinawa sat beside Nancy and brought out a lunchbox, making Nancy take a double take 'how the HELL do they EAT!?' Nancy asked in her mind, Hinawa sensed Nancy's shock and purposely lifted a piece of apple, before putting it near her face.

Nancy almost screamed.

The apple slice phased through her face.

"What the-!?" Nancy watched as she did the same with her water, watching as it slid out of the bottle near her face and seemingly disappeared.

So not only did they cry blood, but the Noppera-Bou ate by phasing things through their bodies.

Huh, you learn something new everyday.

Once Hinawa had finished indirectly shocking Nancy, she wrote a message on the notebook she brought and showed it to her:

"I'm worried for my family. Lucas is too scared to leave the house without a companion, my other son, Claus is too scared to let him leave without a companion and my husband has been extra protective of me lately, despite it clearly draining him emotionally... I had no idea that the death of one child that we didn't even know personally could affect us like this..."

Nancy saw this message and grimaced. To her, the stort always sounded fishy, sure a snake girl sounded pretty scary in theory, but upon seeing the girl who was killed she looked about as harmless as a fly, she couldn't really believe that the man killed the little girl because he was 'scared', it sounded like crap "I don't blame 'em, be daughter isn't even an abnormal, but after this whole fiasco she asked if her dad could pick her up instead because she felt safer, which means it must be extra hard for you guys-"

"I hate being afraid"

Nancy wasn't even given a chance to really process that message before Hinawa began writing a new one:

"I hate being afraid so much, it's not a good feeling, being unstrusting of every human you come across because of your bad experiences, and, I'm sorry to say this, but even you scare me Nancy"

Nancy read the message and felt her shoulders lower, she wasn't an abnormal, she didn't know what it was like to constantly live in fear that you might not live ti see another day based on nothing but your appearance, Nancy never lived with that burden, she couldn't fully put herself in Hinawa's shoes.

She then began thinking to back before she befriended Hinawa, Nancy had always felt uncomfortable around abnormals, she was never really afraid of them, she just didn't really trust them. She had heard not so savory stories about them and she believed that she would rather be safe than sorry. She had always been around when she heard people disrespecting abnormals or even saying some of the most vile things she could think of.

As her thought train progressed, her breathing hitched.

Nancy had never actively partaken in goint against abnormals but she had always condoned it, she never spoke up when an abnormal was being wronged, she never said or did anything to stop the unfair treatment of abnormal, she always just stood there, silent and unbothered by the situation, simply because it was affecting them and not her. Even when her son had came out and introduced her to Lucas, she acted uncomfortable and actively tried to convince them to break up.

This brought her back to her teenage years. Nancy remembered being in the same class as a girl called Stacy. Stacy was a Lizard girl and was covered in scales and looked a lot like the Rina girl, except her bottom half wasn't that of a snakes. From what she could remember, Stacy was a rather friendly and polite girl, yet Nancy always had an issue with that, and of course, so did the other students. As Stacy was being horribly bullied, Nanct stood there, complacent in what was happening and refusing to show her any type support. She wantef nothibg to do with abnormals, even if it meant letting one be treated unfairly.

Then one day, Stacy didn't come to school, apparently she had gone missing.

A few days later, a body was found.

As she began remembering these supressed memories, Nancy began hyperventilating, she kept these memories supressed for a reason, she didn't want to remind herself how much of a terrible person she was, how much she was willing to let slide out of her own selfishness.

"Nancy, are you alright?"

Nancy looked over at the message, and thus, she she broke like a dam. She began tearing up before letting it all loose instantly, which did nothing more than confuse Hinawa "I'm... sorry..." Hinawa simply tilted her head "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry, I'm..." Hinawa saw how distressed she was and began writing a message:

"What are you sorry for Nancy?"

Nancy looked up at Hinawa, eyes flowing with tears "don't you see? I'm part of the problem!" she put her head in her hands "it's people like me who allow things like the shooting of Rina James to happen, it's ignorant people like me that keep letting this happen... if I wasn't so mean... maybe Rina would still be here... maybe Stacy would still be here..."

"Stacy?"

"She was a girl from bacl when I was in school... she was getting bullied and I purposely did nothing to help her... I always stood and watched, it got to a point where it became too much for her and she... she...!" Nancy continued to cry, despite not finished her sentence, Hinawa knew exactly what she meant and pat Nancy in the back gently to calm her down. Hinawa then grabbed her notebook and began writing, when she finished she tapped Nancy on the back, who looked up:

"Nancy, it isn't in any way your fault that Rina died, however, as much as I appreciate you understanding the error of your ways, crying won't solve anything, answer me this, what is the meaning of power without fear?"

Nancy sighed "p-power without fear is weakness, but power also has the ability to bring out the fear and weakness in people" she mumbled.

Hinawa chuckled before writing again:

"I'm assuming you heard that from Ness, huh?"

Nancy smiled "yeah, apparently he had a talk with some girl from his class about it"

"Okay, now what is strength?"

Nancy paused "I'm... not so sure..."

Hinawa nodded "strength is the ability to overcome hardship and turmoil, regardless of how difficult it seems, strength is using your power and your status to help those beneath you because they can't help themselves. Ness uses his strength everyday whenever he defends Lucas from bullies, my husband uses his strength everyday when trying to defend me or our children"

"Where are you going with this?" Nancy asked with a raised brow.

"What I'm saying is, instead of crying about how sorry you are, use your strength. Use it as a means to stop people from doing the things they do to us abnormals, use your influence to make a difference, actually try to make a change. I'm sure it's what Rina and Stacy would have wanted"

Nancy looked up at what Hinawa has said, wiping her tears. Nancy may have not had the power to do anything extremely monumental, she certainly had the strength to, and despite how blunt Hinawa's message was, it was right. No amount if crying was going to do anything, she had to actually do something if she wanted to prove that she was truly sorry.

"You're right Hina" Nancy smiled "I'll use my strength"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THIS ARC THINGY IS FINALLY DONE OOF-


	9. Switch, Also Known as the Alternate Universe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An au within an au in which Ness is the Noppera-Bou

Lucas was a lot of things, he was shy, he was kind, he was a pushover, he was not confrontational, but if there was one thing everyone knew him as it was compassionate. Lucas had this weird ability to see the good in everyone despite how everyone else may see them, he had this uncanny power to befriend almost everyone he came across, he was accepting and tolerant and seemed to be the most likeable person many people knew.

So why was it a shock to people that he was dating a Noppera-Bou?

Lucas held his book in hand, sitting on the bench beside the school building, he looked around to see if he was arriving. Nervous blue eyes glazed over the crowd as he began losing hope in him arriving, he sighed, he would never stand Lucas up so he shouldn't be worried. Soon, he saw him coming up the hill, a messily worn uniform with black hair and a baseball cap being the tell tale signs that it was him.

That, and his lack of a face.

"Ness! You came!" Lucas smiled before standing up, approaching the other. Without warning, Lucas was pulled into a pretty tight hug before he was let go of and handed a messily written note:

"What, did ya really think I wouldn't come? Here I thought you loved me..."

Lucas began waving his hands quickly before speaking "I didn't mean it like that! It's just you-" before he could finish, Ness began ruffling his hair, probably as a way to say 'I'm only joking'. Lucas chuckled, only to then feel an arm around his shoulder and a note in his face:

"Now, could you show this handsom devil the way to your friends please?"

Lucas snorted "you know, for a guy without a face you're pretty cocky"

Ness did a jerk before taking his hands and signing a message, although Lucas wasn't as well-versed as he'd like in sign language, he still understood this one:

"Self love baby!"

Lucas and Ness began walking through the crowd of students outside the building in an attempt to find the field, and it wasn't much of a shocker to see people staring. Ness wasn't the first abnormal to grace the halls of Tazmily High, but he was certainly the only one that lacked a face, but while Lucas seemed to shrink under the stares and glances, Ness didn't seem phazed by it. Maybe it was his own biased view on things, but Ness' confidence confused him to the core.

If it were him, he'd have broken down by now.

When they went around the building to the field area, they soon found the group they were looking for. There sat a brunette with pigtails, who seemed to be arguing with a girl that had a white bob-cut, watching this was a brown haired male who seemed to find the whole thing amusing, and finally there sat another brunette with glasses who was to engrossed in his phone to care.

"Ness, meet Angie, Alle, Fuel and Nichol, Nana's supposed to be here and" he looked over at Nichol "I'm assuming your sister is late- again?"

Nichol sighed "it's not my fault Richie doesn't know what an alarm clock is"

"Who cares about Richie when we got Lucas' B-O-Y-F-R-I-E-N-D in our presence, HI!" Fuel grinned.

"Yo... he ain't got a face... wild" was the only commentary Alle gave before Angie stood up.

"Well, I for one am BEYOND glad to meet you!"

Ness did the jerk again, Lucas' friends sure seemed to have rather colorful personalities, he waved, bringing out his notebook before writing:

"Nice to meet you dudes, I'm Ness as you already know, and you're watching the disney-"

"Stop wasting your ink on nonsense!" Lucas huffed before snatching the pen, Ness hunched over, signing something about 'not being allowed to have fun' as Lucas pointed an accusatory finger at him "yes, this is Ness, and yes, as Fuel so subtlely pointed out, he's my boyfriend"

"How do you kiss if he hasn't got lips?" Alle blurted, which made Fuel shake his head.

"Isn't it obvious? They do those eskimo kisses where they put their noses on each other!" He said in a rather 'well duh?' tone.

Nichol flicked him "you idiot, Ness doesn't have a nose!"

Angie then perked "ooh! Do they do that fox kiss thing where you make your hand look like a fox and put it on your lips and then place it on their cheek? That one is so cute!"

"More like bleh" Richie said, literally appearing out of nowhere and putting her brother into a headlock "those are like... so outdated"

"GUYS!" Lucas finally yelled "that... isn't any of your business"

Richie looked up, before realization hit her "ooooh, is this that dude you started seeing, the Nonerra-Low dude, West is it?"

Lucas sighed "first of all, it's Noppera-Bou-"

"Eh, Potato Potahto, Lucas Lickass it really doesn't matter-"

"HEY! Second of all, his name is Ness, not West"

"Whatever, they both have an E and an S in it"

Lucas looked up at Ness "sorry for their less than savory behavior, but at least they don't hate you?"

Ness threw up a thumbs up, and Alle frowned "you guys still didn't answer my question..."

"Shut up Alle your hair is white so your opinion is invalid" Richie said, sticking her tongue out.

"Why does that make my opinion invalid? Sounds like hair racism, haircism if you will"

Richie shrugged "white hair is a sign if being elderly, so you could have all timers for all we know"

Angie paused "do you mean Alzheimer's-"

"How can I be old, I'm literally the youngest person here!"

Fuel put his hand to his chin "sounds like something an old person would say..."

"Can you crackheads shut up and get ready? Class starts in like five minutes, also- hey, Richie! Get off of me!" Nichol yelped after remembering that he was still in a headlock.

"First you gotta say big daddy and then I'll let you go!" She giggled.

"I'm not saying that you freak now let go!" Nichol whined.

"If you don't then I won't let go!"

"But then you'll be late!"

"So will yooooou!"

Nichole spluttered, unable to physically get out of her grasp "fine... uh... large father-"

"Nope"

"Huge dad-"

"Nah"

"papá grande-"

"English please"

"A father figure of substantial size-"

"No no no, you gotta say it!"

"Fine, BIG DADDY, no let go of me!"

Everything seemed to pause before Richie eventually let go of him, snickering "you didn't have to be that loud, weirdo..."

Lucas was mortified, he looked over at Ness, who seemed to be doing the laugh-jerk "I'm so sorry... I promise you when I say it's not my fault that they're such weirdos-"

"I like your friends, they're funny"

Lucas read the note over again before gaffawing "seriously?" when Ness nodded, Lucas exhaled before taking hold of his hand "well, that's a good thing, but we have class now..."

Nese then took his hand again before showing him another note:

"You just watch, I'm gonna be the first class clown that can't speak or make a funny face"

Lucas lowered his head, this was going to be a long day, but at least it woud be fun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeet

**Author's Note:**

> I posted this on wattpad and forgot to post it here oooof


End file.
